Naji looked back at him warily. “I won’t allow any harm to come to your daughter.”
“That right?” Papa stared at him for a long time. Naji hadn’t pulled his sword, and his tattoos were all covered up, and he was still dressed like a pirate. Nothing about him, except maybe the scar, suggested that he was an assassin.
“I’ve protected her this long,” Naji said.
Another long pause, and then Papa roared with laughter. He turned to me. “You’ve turned into a right princess, you need some shield-for-hire following you around. Like those foppy Empire nobles.” He laughed again.
“I didn’t hire him!”
Mama scooped her arm around me and pulled me close. “Throw up the peace flag!” she shouted. “And make sail for the open sea before the Jokja authorities show up.”
That set the crew to scrambling. The queen’s boat wasn’t attacking no more, but it wouldn’t be long before the queen’s navy arrived. And I doubted Queen Saida would give amnesty to anybody who’d just burned half the Aja Shore, even if they were my parents.
When the Tanarau took to the water, the Nadir was right behind her. But not the queen’s ship. Mama must’ve had somebody send word to Marjani. I wondered if she still thought we were in parley.
A pirate ship is outfitted to go faster than even the Empire’s little sloops, but Papa had us sail out past sunset, to be sure. They stuck me and Naji up in the captain’s quarters, like I was still five years old and liable to get underfoot. Though in truth I was grateful for it, cause I was tired, even though it hadn’t been much of a battle.
Naji and me sat side by side on the little trundle bed. We didn’t say much. I didn’t even feel him inside my head. I think it was more under his control than he’d let me believe. Or maybe he’d just put it under his control.
Once we seemed clear of an attack, Mama and Papa came back into the cabin.
“I think you got a story to tell us, girl,” Papa said. He pulled a jar of sugar-wine out of his cabinet and slid down in his big brass chair. Mama leaned against the wall. Both of them looked worn out.
The boat tipped back and forth from the winds and the speed on the water.
“I guess I do,” I said.
Papa drank the sugar-wine straight from the bottle and slammed it down on the navigation table.
“Why’d you run off?” Mama asked.
“I didn’t want to get married.”
She frowned at me, but I could see Papa get a hint of a smile.
“Heard you killed the Hariri boy,” he said.
“He was gonna kill me.” But that wasn’t the part of the story I wanted to tell, and I wrapped my arms around my stomach and took a deep breath. Naji glanced at me and frowned.
“She was saving her own life and mine,” he told Papa. “They attacked us with… machines… out in the desert–”
“Sandships,” Papa said. “Heard about ’em. Never seen ’em.” He took another swig of wine and handed the bottle to Naji, who shook his head. I grabbed it instead, which made Papa laugh.
“So why didn’t you kill her?” Mama asked Naji. She pulled her pipe out of her jacket pocket and a pouch of grayweed and took to packing it in tight.
Naji blinked.
“You’re an assassin, yeah? That’s what she said up on deck.” She snapped her fingers and flames danced on top of her fingertips, and she lit her pipe. Another snap and they were gone. The sort of thing she used to call “courtier’s tricks” back when I was trying to learn magic.
The scent of her smoke made me dizzy with homesickness, even though I was home.
“I am a member of the Jadorr’a,” Naji said. “And yes, Captain Hariri hired me to…” His voice trailed off, and I almost took his hand in mine. Stopped myself just as my fingers grazed across his knuckles.
Mama must’ve seen cause she arched an eyebrow and said, “Didn’t think you had it in you, Nana.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, scowling. And then before she could answer I blurted out the whole story about the snake and the curse and the Wizard Eirnin and the Isles of the Sky and the Nadir and the starstones. The whole time Mama and Papa listened, and the only time either of them moved was when Mama puffed on her pipe.
“Starstones,” Mama said when I’d finished.
“Yeah,” I said. “We gotta go find the sons of whores who stole ’em, but Marjani doesn’t want to leave Jokja.”
Papa squinted. “Well. That is a conundrum.”
“You ought to just take her boat,” Mama said.
“I ain’t no mutineer.”
They both laughed at that.
“It ain’t funny!” I said.
“Well, she promised you starstones and then didn’t deliver,” Mama said. “I think that’s reason enough to take her boat.”
I could feel myself getting hot with anger, and I balled my hand up into a fist and thought about hitting somebody. The truth was my distaste with mutiny had nothing to do with it. I owed Marjani my loyalty for the rest of my life. After all, she came back to the Isles of the Sky for me.
Papa drained the last of the sugar-wine.
“Or we could stop screwing around with you,” he said.
“What?” The anger flared up. Maybe it was mine, maybe it was Naji’s. The blood-connection made my emotions confusing.
Papa chuckled and stood up. “Come down to the holding bay, I’ll show you.”
Mama smiled at me through the cloud of smoke.
And I got this thought in my head, like maybe they’d aligned themselves with the Hariris after all, and this was all a trap.
“Naji, come with me.”
“Of course.” When I stood up, he stood up. Mama shook her head.
“Never seen a pirate with a bodyguard,” she said. “Thought I taught you to do your own fighting.”
“He ain’t my bodyguard!”
“Enough.” Papa’s voice boomed out in full-on captain’s mode. “Sela, I know you’re still sore about the marriage, but it’s over with now. Ananna.” He turned to me. “I ain’t gonna hurt you. Blood ties are stronger than any Confederation law.”
Mama huffed in the corner.
“I’m just a daughter,” I said.
“You’re my daughter, sure. Ain’t no just about it.”
I looked at him, unsure of what to say.
He clapped me on the back. “I’ll let you follow, if it’ll make you and your assassin feel better. Sela! Up here.”
“Don’t boss me,” she said, but she joined him, and together we wound through the belly of the Tanarau to the holding bay. Some idiot part of me wanted to press close to Naji, but instead I clutched the hilt of my sword and kept my eyes out for an attack.
When we got to the holding bay, Papa undid the lock and kicked the door open. “Have a look,” he said.
I could smell Empire spices and the faint briny seaweed scent of the charm Mama used to stop bugs from eating holes in the silks. It reminded me of sleeping down here, pretending I was a child of the desert and not the water.
I stepped inside.
“What am I looking for?” I asked, folding my hands over my chest. “It’s just treas–”
Naji’s sword clattered to the floorboards.
“Ah,” Papa said. “He knows.”
“The starstones,” Naji said.
I felt like all the air’d been let out of me. Naji rushed forward, pushing me aside. He knelt down in front of a pile of Jokja cotton – and a trio of smooth white pebbles. I hadn’t paid them any mind. I figured they were there to keep the cotton from sliding around. I was more concerned with the box sitting beside them, carved and jeweled in the Jokja style.
Naji reached out one hand. Stopped. He was trembling.
“I wouldn’t touch ’em,” Mama said.
“I know that.” It came out in a hiss. I knelt beside him. The stones didn’t look like nothing special. Just river rocks that’d been worn smooth by the water.
“You sure this is them???
? I asked.
Mama snorted. “You shoulda seen ’em when Kel took ’em out of their box. Lit up all of down below, they did.” There was something in her voice that sounded sad, and I knew Kel, whoever he was, was gone. I wondered if Mama and Papa had known what the starstones were when they brought them aboard.
“Can’t you feel it?” Naji’s eyes glowed. “The magic in them?”
“No.”
Naji grabbed my hand and squeezed it between both of his palms. I jolted at his touch, and at first I thought it was just me being moony – but then I realized it was something else, some power coursing through him, seeping out of his skin. Not his blood magic, which was like death curling her cold soft hands around your heart. This was ancient. This was the towering trees growing out of the cold damp ground of the ice-islands. This was the darkness of caves and the richness of desert sand. This was the emptiness of the night sky.
“They aren’t actually weapons, you know.” Naji said, his voice soft. “People want them to be, because of their strength…” His hands trembled against mine.
“They’re the source of all magic,” Naji went on, so soft I was pretty sure only I could hear him.
“What?” I stared at him. Behind us, Mama took a few steps closer, leaning in like she wanted to hear.
“You felt it,” Naji said, looking over his shoulder at her. “The power. When your crewman died–”
“I don’t want to talk about that.”
Naji actually shut up. I guess Mama’s sharp voice can even scare a Jadorr’a. Or maybe it wasn’t Mama he was scared of.
“What’s going to happen to you?” I said. “When you hold them?”
He looked at me. “You already know.”
I shook my head. “It ain’t right. I mean, think about what happened when I… you thought the other thing was impossible, and it wasn’t at all.”
Naji’s eyes loomed dark and empty. Then he turned back to the starstones. I didn’t let that stop me.
“There’s gotta be something about you,” I said. “Cause you’re Jadorr’a, cause you can’t die, it’s in all the stories.” I knew I was babbling; I knew Mama and Papa were giving each other looks over in the corner. “None of the tasks are impossible, that’s the thing. You only think they are. It’s like how I thought it was impossible for me to do magic and then I did, and I saved your life on the river, and–”
He lifted his head. The glow in his eyes illuminated the tears streaked across his cheekbones.
“Naji?” I whispered, cause all other words had left me.
“I hope you’re right,” he said, and then he reached out with his bare hands and scooped up the stones.
Magic flared around us, bright white and stinging like the edge of a flame. Naji screamed. The stones filled with light. For a dazed second, I thought that Jeric yi Niru was right, that they really did look like the stars plucked out of the sky.
And then I heard Papa shout, and I was aware of him and Mama both drawing their pistols, and Mama saying something like not again. And Naji stared at me with hollowed eyes and a gaping mouth, the stones growing brighter and brighter. I realized I could see the outline of his bones beneath his skin.
“Drop them!” I screamed. “You’ve done it! Skin against stone! Drop them!”
The faint presence of Naji’s thoughts evaporated out of my head, leaving me empty and alone.
The stones clattered against the floor.
And then so did Naji.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I bounded on board the Nadir, screaming Marjani’s name. Tears streamed down my face. I couldn’t stop shaking.
“What is it?” She appeared at my side, one hand holding her gun, the other wrapped around my shoulder. “Where’s Naji? Dammit! I knew we shouldn’t have surrendered–”
“No!” I shouted, before she could call up the crew to arms again. “It wasn’t… Where’s Jeric yi Niru?”
Marjani blinked at me.
“Where’s Naji?” she asked again.
“He held the stones,” I said. More tears welled up behind my eyes. “He held the stones and now he’s… now he’s–”
“The stones?” Marjani shook her head. “Ananna, what are you talking about?”
“The starstones!” I shouted. “My parents had the starstones!”
“What?” Marjani stared at me. “And he… Oh, Ananna…is he…” She swallowed. “Is he dead?”
I shook my head.
Marjani closed her eyes and let out a long relieved sigh.
“But there’s still something wrong with him. He won’t get up. Jeric yi Niru!” I wiped at my eyes, suddenly ashamed of the tears, and turned toward the deck. “Where is he?”
“Here, first mate.”
He slunk up behind me. When I glanced at him his face twisted up into a mask of sympathy and he said, “Oh, my dear, I’d offer you a handkerchief, but it seems–”
“Stop it.” I dug the heel of my hand into my eyes. The salt stung. “What else do you know about the starstones?”
Jeric gave me his slow, easy grin. “I believe you’re in need of an Empire magician, not an Empire soldier.”
I slapped him.
“Uncalled for,” he said.
“You’re a noble,” I said. “Nobles don’t sign up with the Empire’s navy unless they get to be officers. But you ain’t no officer.”
The smile vanished from Jeric’s face.
“Right now I don’t give a shit what you did that got you condemned to sea. But I’ve half a mind to think it might got something to do with starstones.” I pulled out my pistol and pointed it at his chest. “Am I right?”
“Will you shoot me if I say no?”
I curled my finger around the trigger.
Jeric grinned again, although this time it wasn’t so easy. “You’re cleverer than I gave you credit for.”
“What else do you know about them?”
“You said the assassin is still alive?” Jeric’s eyes glinted. “I’ve heard of people surviving this long after touching the stones, but I’ve never met one. Of course, I’ve also heard that they never come back the same.”
Fear prickled cold and sharp down my spine, ice in the heat. I didn’t know if Jeric yi Niru was lying to me or not.
“Could you help him?”
Jeric shrugged.
“Come with me,” I told him. Then I turned to Marjani. “I’m going to bring Naji back on board and you need to tell Queen Saida to let my parents go.”
Marjani opened her mouth.
“Just this once. They’ll be back. I know Papa. She can do whatever she wants to them then. But please. Just let them go today.”
Marjani got real quiet, and then she gave me a short little nod, and that’s how I knew for sure that the queen’s fleet had been following behind us as we gave chase, all set to interrupt our parley and take my parents prisoner.
I grabbed Jeric yi Niru by the arm and dragged him to the rowboat. He stumbled along with me and didn’t say anything as we climbed in, just gave me that steady stare of his – though this time it was shot through with wariness. My pointing the pistol at him had been a bluff; it was just as likely he got sent out to sea for seducing some courtier’s wife. Sometimes you gotta take a gamble.
The boat splashed down, cold seawater cascading over my lap. I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything except getting Naji back on board the Nadir, and then to someplace that could give him care.
“I’m putting you in charge of the stones,” I said. “We’re bringing them back with us.”
“Mercy, why?”
“My reasons are my own,” I snapped. It was because of the curse – I didn’t know if Naji touching them this time had worked or not. I wanted to cover all my bases.
“And how exactly do you plan to get them on board the ship?”
“They’ve got a box. Papa’s crew was able to transport ’em fine that way.”
“I imagine it’s safe to assume they’re not in the box now.”
I glared at him.
“I’m sure you know what my next question is.” He paused, eyes glittering. “How do we get them in the box?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I brought you.”
Jeric settled back and didn’t say anything.
Naji was still stretched out when we got to the Tanarau holding bay. Mama was sitting over him with a bucket of seawater and the big pink conch shell she used on fevers and nightmares. She had peeled his shirt away and set the shell on his scattershot scar.
His tattoos glowed.
The starstones were glowing too, although they were dimmer now, casting long, pale shadows. Mama looked up at me when I walked in, her face foreign-looking in the light of the starstones. Her eyes flicked over to Jeric yi Niru.
“If those stones knock you out, don’t expect me to treat you,” she said to him.
Jeric didn’t respond, not even to give her one of his mocking smiles. I knelt beside Naji and pushed the hair out of his face. I concentrated real hard, trying to see if I could peer inside his thoughts, to see what he was feeling. But I couldn’t.
His skin was cold to the touch, but when I pressed my fingers against the side of his neck I could feel his pulse fluttering soft and light.
“Do you know if he’ll get better?” I was afraid I would start crying again.
Mama didn’t answer, just handed me a little silk bag filled with the glass vials she kept her spellstuff in, the bits of coral and the sand from Mua Beach and the dried seaweed harvested off the coast of the ice-islands.
“I mixed up some salts,” she said. “Lay them under his nose twice a day. Maybe it’ll work.”
Not maybe! I wanted to scream.
Behind me, Jeric yi Niru cleared his throat.
“I don’t want to hear your opinion on the subject,” I shouted. “Grab the damn stones and take them to the rowboat.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything.” He paused. “And I’m afraid I can’t just grab the damn stones.”
“Find a way.”
He sighed. Then he looked at Mama. “What’s the thickest fabric you have on board? A carpet would be best.”
She gave him a dark look.
“I’m not taking the carpet with me. We just need a way to set them back in their box.”